Age at natural menopause and associated factors in adult women: Findings from the China Kadoorie Biobank study in Zhejiang rural area.

• Main Authors: Meng Wang, Wei-Wei Gong, Ru-Ying Hu, Hao Wang, Yu Guo, Zheng Bian, Jun Lv, Zheng-Ming Chen, Li-Ming Li, Min Yu
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2018-01-01
• Series: PLoS ONE
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0195658

<h4>Objectives</h4>To investigate the factors associated with age at natural menopause in a large population of Chinese adult women.<h4>Methods</h4>This cross-sectional study was part of the baseline survey of China Kadoorie Biobank in Zhejiang Province. A total of 17,076 postmenopausal women were included in the present study. Relevant data of socio-demographic, lifestyle, dietary and reproductive characteristics were collected. Multinomial logistic regression models were used to examine the associated factors of age at natural menopause with adjusted odds ratios (ORs) and their 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were reported.<h4>Results</h4>The mean age at natural menopause was 48.94 years, with 3.40% of the women experienced premature menopause and 6.75% early menopause. Younger age, higher education, consumption of meat (1-3 days per week) and increased parity were associated with late menopause. Current smoking, underweight, higher physical activity, consumption of sea food (1-3 days per week), fresh eggs (≥4 days per week), fresh fruits (≥1 day per week), taking vitamins, experiencing severe food shortage, earlier age at menarche and older age at first birth were associated with earlier age at natural menopause.<h4>Conclusions</h4>These results suggest that certain factors involved with socio-demographic, lifestyle, dietary and reproductive characteristics are related to the age at natural menopause in Chinese women.